The first lesson every President learns is that in trying to please all his constituents he pleases no one, including himself.
President Obama sold the $800 billion Stimulus Plan to the American people as a strategy to create untold
infrastructure jobs. If fact, President Obama said the stimulus plan would save or create 3.5 million jobs in the next two years and that he hoped to limit the unemployment rate to a peak of 8% this summer. In typical political bait and switch fashion his democratic Congress allocated 8% of the stimulus money to infrastructure projects. Instead of infrasturture jobs Congress gave us cornucopia of social programs that have been on their wish list for decades, leaving the President with egg on his face.
The
unemployment rate has already reached…
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Some thoughts for Obama Motors to consider!
Only 20% of the energy contained in gasoline is converted to mechanical energy by a traditional
internal combustion engine. Refinements in the internal combustion engine, improved aerodynamics, more efficient drivetrains and low resistance tires could make a greater contribution to increased milage and reduced carbon dioxide (CO2) production than advanced technology such as plug-in cars.
Among the
adjustments that could help improve fuel economy are turbocharging with smaller, more efficient engines that produce the same level of power; advanced heat management and cooling systems, which reuse the heat produced by the engine for energy; weight reduction, including extensive use of high-strength steel; better aerodynamics; more efficient air conditioners, transmissions and lighting devices and increased electrification leading to full hybridization with electric motor and…
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Only one industrial country in the world has significantly reduced its carbon footprint, and that country is France. France, the sixth largest economy in the world, ranks 15th in
carbon dioxide emissions, behind pre-industrial economies like Iran and Indonesia. France has simultaneously, reduced its dependence on foreign sources of fossil fuels, coal, natural gas and oil. While we dither with small-scale experimental intermittent technologies like
solar and
wind in the United States, France has gone nuclear and clean. In 2008
wind and solar accounted for 1.1% of US energy needs and even if we meet President Obama's objective of doubling the amount by 2012, its contribution will still be inconsequential. In the best-case scenario for wind and solar, they might together generate 20%-25% of our clean…
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Heat from the Earth, or
geothermal - Geo (Earth) + thermal (heat) - energy can be readily accessed by drilling water or steam wells in a process similar to drilling for oil. Domestic geothermal energy is an enormous, and underused heat and power resource that emits little or no greenhouse gases. Mile-or-more-deep wells can be drilled into underground reservoirs to tap steam and very hot water that can be brought to the surface for use in a variety of applications. In the U.S most geothermal reservoirs are located in the western states, Alaska, and Hawaii. About 8,000 megawatts of electricity are currently produced globally including about 3,000 megawatts of capacity in the United States. The
US Department of Energy believes that an additional 15,000 megawatts of geothermal electricity…
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In the popular press one often reads the mantra - We have reached "
peak oil" - implying that we have reached the limits of our geological reserves. That is probably not the case, what we have reached however, is geopolitical "peak oil" because inefficient national companies have pushed out private companies with the know-how to exploit existing reserves. In the 70's
Western Oil companies controlled well over 50% of world oil production. Today, "BIG OIL", the combination of Exxon, BP, Royal Dutch Shell, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Total and Italy's Eni produce just 13% and that will probably decline over the next two decades. Today's ten largest holders of petroleum reserves are state-owned companies, like Russia's Gaspron, Iran's national oil company, Saudi Aramco and Petroleos de Venezuela. (With the possible
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Transportation, specifically the automobile, will be the pivotal sector driving increased demand for oil and its substitutes over the next two decades. The developing world notably China and India, aspire to the freedom the automobile brings. Things we take for granted, such as the ability to escape the crowded city whenever we wish, to live in a green suburb and commute to work or just live a greater distance from our employment will now be come increasingly available to people in the developing world. Per capita car ownership in China will increase to 40 cars per 1,000 citizens by 2010 from its current 24 and that is only the beginning of a steep secular trend. By contrast the United States has 765 vehicles per 1,000 and most Western European countries
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